KC man charged in triple slaying in January

Casts of footprints, analyses of shell casings, DNA testing and a map of movements provided by cell phone records led to charges Tuesday against 46-year-old Anthony W. Walker in the January killing of three people in central Kansas City.

Casts of footprints, analyses of shell casings, DNA testing and a map of movements provided by cell phone records led to charges Tuesday against a 46-year-old Kansas City man in the January killing of three people in central Kansas City.

Jackson County prosecutors charged Anthony W. Walker with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and first-degree burglary.

He is charged in the January 16 killings of 62-year-old Donna Pike, her son Herschel Pike, 41, and Edward Williams, 57, an acquaintance of the Pikes, who interrupted the crime and was shot in the head as he approached the front of their home in the 3900 block of Paseo.

Walker was arrested about two weeks after the killing after he sold a .40-caliber handgun to a confidential source cooperating with police. Walker was charged Feb. 2 with being a felon in possession of a firearm and has been in custody since then, according to federal court records.

After police obtained the weapon, laboratory testing linked it to shell casings found at the scene of the killings, according to court records. And a DNA sample found in the gun’s barrel matched the DNA of Donna Pike, authorities allege.

Police were first called to the Pikes’ home early on the morning of January 16 when a concerned friend was not able to contact them. Officers discovered Williams on the side of the house, his body partially covered. Inside they found Herschel Pike in a front room chair and his mother’s body was found in an upstairs bedroom.

Neighbors described the Pikes as long-time and well-liked residents of the predominantly neighborhood. Williams was widely known as an accomplished freelance auto mechanic.

The charges allege that Walker illegally entered their house with the intent to steal. A witness later told police that Walker previously bought drugs from Herschel Pike and after the killings the witness said Walker possessed a gallon-size bag of marijuana, cash and another handgun that other witnesses said resembled one owned by Herschel Pike.

When police checked Pike’s cell phone they found its last two incoming calls came from Walker’s cell phone on the night before the bodies were found.

Other witnesses described seeing a pickup truck parked in front of the house that night that was similar to one owned by Walker, according to the court documents.

After his arrest on the gun charge, Walker told police he knew Herschel Pike, but had not been to their house for several weeks. But his cell phone records showed that his phone was in the area of their house between 11:42 and 11:51 p.m. on January 15, according to the court records.

The tread on the shoes Walker was wearing when he was arrested, authorities also alleged, matched a footprint pattern found at the crime scene.